


Wisps

by IamHobbes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Established Relationship, Living Together, M/M, Slice of Life, Smoking, aaa i wrote this in one go please Dont Perceive Me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25403839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IamHobbes/pseuds/IamHobbes
Summary: Takeda doesn’t want to be secondhand smoke.
Relationships: Takeda Ittetsu/Ukai Keishin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 165





	Wisps

Ukai remembers his first smoke.

He was fourteen, with hair shaved so close to his scalp that, in all likelihood, it affected his better judgement. As a teen, his friends could talk him into everything, whether it was skipping class to go hang in the streets or shoplifting adult magazines under his black school uniform. It just happened, one day, that their chosen vice came in a handheld, paper box; a picture of a black lung staring up at them and their acne-scarred faces.

Ukai remembers his fingers brushing the tips of the orange filters before fishing out a cigarette and sticking it in his mouth. He remembers the first, foreign taste of tobacco, how he inhaled it too deeply and ended up choking on his own breath. His friends all roared with laughter while he coughed, and he felt the need to redeem himself. So he smoked another one, and another, until his heart palpitated and his bowels started to suspiciously move. The next day, on his way home, he sought a cigarette out by himself, and unceremoniously blasted through it in two minutes. The rest, Ukai thinks, is (a grey, hazy) history.

Between he and himself, he knows quitting would be less than an option now that he’s years into the habit. Smoking calmed his nerves, distracted him from less than polite customers, and gave him something to do in the idle hours of minding the store. His mom couldn’t do much about it ever since he started earning his own pay, but it’s not like Ukai blows smoke in her direction whenever she's around him. He’s too old to be playing rebellious delinquent anyway.

“Keishin?”

The voice from behind him snaps him out of his thoughts, startles him enough to make him jump, and leads him to hit a kneecap on the coffee table that he’s seated in front of. He winces, slightly, before he can recover. _Damn_ , he thinks, stretching his leg out. He takes the cigarette out from his mouth and lets it rest on the ledge of the ashtray, being careful not to spill ash anywhere else.

Ukai turns towards the sound of the voice. As he does, the living room lights switch on. He blinks, the newfound brightness flooding his vision. He doesn’t need to see, to find the look of concern on his boyfriend’s face.

“Sensei,” Ukai greets, rubbing his eyes. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Mm,” Takeda hums, making his way to the couch where Ukai is seated. His dark hair is all over the place, glasses slightly askew. He is wearing a too large shirt over green boxers, padding the room with bare feet. It makes him look younger than he is, much to Ukai’s endearment.

Takeda yawns before he speaks: “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Ukai assures him, scooting over so that the teacher can sit down. “Throat was just itching.”

“Ah,” Takeda murmurs, settling down beside him. He observes the cigarette slowly burning out on the tray. “I can see that.”

“You can smell it, too,” Ukai teases, putting an arm around him. He lets his hand squeeze his shoulder. “I’m fine. You should go back to bed.”

“But I just woke up,” Takeda points out, pressing his cheek unto Ukai’s arm. “Unless you’d rather be alone...?” Ukai simply pulls him closer as way of response.

Takeda was pretty tame, growing up; never truly disobeyed his parents when he could, fulfilling their dreams for him dutifully. He might’ve been a little lonely throughout his adolescence, sure, but no more than most. He worked consistently and determinedly without fail; got put in advanced classes. His choice to pursue literature and teaching was a praised one. Perhaps the only time he ever truly disappointed his family was when he realized he didn’t want one of his own; never saw himself with a loving wife and her long, straight black hair. He never saw himself holding her at night, snoring peacefully. He knew early on but kept it to himself for a long while; it was only somewhere halfway through college that he began to feel real free.

In college, he had a partner who he adored very much. He was a year older than him, better-read than him, always there when he needed him. Takeda even entertained the thought that they were _soulmates_ , despite how cornily poetic it sounded. That’s why it came as shock when he caught his partner kissing another man. Although Takeda’s had other partners over the span of the years, what his first one said, when they broke it off, still gets to him: _Must you always play it safe?_

When Ukai reaches over to pick up the remaining stub of the cigarette with his free hand, Takeda speaks in a rush. “May I?”

“What?” Ukai replies, an eyebrow raised. He puts the once-stick between his teeth and finishes it in one go.

“Your cigarette, I mean,” Takeda clarifies, shifting his position so that they are facing each other. He reaches out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind Ukai’s ear.

“Yeah, no, I heard you,” Ukai presses the stub unto the tray until it goes out completely. He stares at it for minute. He doesn’t continue.

“Keishin?”

“No,” Ukai says. He doesn’t deny Takeda many things– _the man begs like a champ_ – but he is rather firm on this decision. He crosses his arms.

“Huh?” Takeda looks at him, eyes wide behind his thick lenses. “But I want to try,” he says, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

“Are you out of your mind?” Ukai asks, voice low. It’s the voice he uses to scold the volleyball kids when they hang around the store too long, eating less than nutritious food.

“No?” Takeda pouts.

 _Well, that’s just unfair_. It makes Ukai rethink his stance briefly, before shaking his head. “I’ll feel guilty if I get you started.”

“I doubt it’s something I’ll particularly enjoy,” Takeda says, thoughtfully. He leans back into the couch, back pressed unto the pillows, and yawns again.

“Uh.” Ukai stares at his boyfriend for a second. “Then, why?”

Takeda shrugs; smiles. “It’s just I’ve always wondered.”

_I don’t want to play it safe; not with you._

“I didn’t take you for the type to be a bad role model for your students,” Ukai stalls. He’s hyperaware of the cigarette box sitting on the other side of him, out of Takeda’s reach.

“You smoke,” Takeda reminds him, gently. “And you’re not a bad role model. You’ve been a positive influence on the kids ever since you started coaching.” Ukai snorts, turning pink.

They sit in pregnant silence for awhile, Takeda waiting expectantly despite Ukai’s insistence. He stares at his feet when he says: “You won’t quit it ‘til I let you, will you?”

Takeda laughs, softly, eyes crinkling. Ukai could never win against his persistence; not since he laid eyes on him.

“ _Fine_ ,” Ukai grunts. “Just _one_.”

Ukai fishes two new sticks from the cigarette box and puts them in his mouth. He fumbles for the lighter for a second, clicking it thrice before he lights up. He inhales and the tobacco starts burning, the air filling with a familiar scent. He takes one of the cigarettes out, holds it in his fingers, and places it between Takeda’s lips ever so gently. It could have been a kiss. Takeda feels himself flush, completely disarmed.

“Don’t inhale into your lungs first,” Ukai warns, watching the other man intently. “Just blow the smoke out. Like this.” He demonstrates by opening his mouth, letting the smoke waft out and rise above him.

Despite himself, Takeda inhales sharply. He can’t help it; not when his boyfriend looks like _that-_ The only solid thing through the wisps. The inevitable happens and he comes up coughing, immediately pulling the cigarette away from his mouth.

“Woah there,” Ukai goes, taking the stick from him. “You okay?”

“Never better,” Takeda chokes out. Ukai balances the cigarettes on the ashtray and pats hard on Takeda’s back. Gradually, the other stops coughing enough to smile sheepishly at him. Ukai brings a hand to cup his face.

“That didn’t sound very pleasant,” he states, matter-of-factly. “Probably wasn’t worth it, hm?”

Takeda is quiet for a minute, lost in his thoughts, staring at the still-burning cigarettes. He makes an expression Ukai can’t quite read. Then, Takeda blinks up at him. “It tasted like you.”

Ukai wasn’t expecting that, in spite of it being an obvious realization. He smokes a lot, he should taste like a nicotine chimney, right? Still, he struggles to find his voice. He brings his hand down. “Yeah?”

Takeda smiles faintly, catching his hand and stroking it with his thumb. He brings it up to his lips. Ukai feels warmth spread through his entire body; so much so that he forgets what time it is.

It is nearing morning.

“I think...” he whispers, closing in on the gap between him and his boyfriend. Their foreheads touch. “... I’m in love with you, sensei.”

Takeda kisses him.

_There’s nothing safer than you._


End file.
